Apple (AAPL) has filed a patent application for an advanced restaurant reservation/ordering system. The systems would be aware of how much time a customer has spent at a table, would alert waiting customers when a table is ready, and would provide menu recommendations based on customer preferences.

OpenTable (OPEN-4.1%) investors appear nervous about the patent application. However, taking share from OpenTable in the face of the restaurant reservation leader's huge network effect would be an uphill battle, especially if (as one would expect) Apple's offering is only available on mobile devices to iOS users.

After digesting its 2013 gains over the last two months, OpenTable (OPEN+11.9%) is breaking out to new highs in response to its Q3 beat and a major pickup in restaurant adds.

After growing its installed base by just 317 restaurants in Q2 and 440 in Q1, OpenTable managed to add 2,690 restaurants in Q3 thanks to more aggressive marketing (Piper called it last month), raising the size of its total base to 30,964 (+17% Y/Y).

That contributed to a 30% Y/Y increase in seated diners (up from 26% in Q2) to 38.5M, a 27% increase in reservation revenue (+24% in Q2) to $27.8M, and an 11% increase in subscription revenue (+8% in Q2) to $15.8M.

In spite of lower penetration, OpenTable's international ops continue to underperform. North American revenue +18% Y/Y to $40.6M, international revenue +16% to $6.1M. North American installed restaurants +23% to 23.3K, international installed restaurants +4% to 7.7K.

Due in part to marketing spend, costs/expenses rose 19% Y/Y, up from 6% growth in Q2 and slightly outpacing rev. growth of 18%. 41% of seated diners booked via mobile devices, up from 38% in Q2.

Q4 guidance is for revenue of $50.7M-$52.1M and EPS of $0.49-$0.53, in-line with a consensus of $50.9M and $0.52. Craig-Hallum has upgraded shares to Hold.

Piper's Michael Olson, who upgraded OpenTable (OPEN+1.2%) to Overweight this morning, thinks the restaurant reservation platform's growth strategy is "shifting toward a renewed focus on consumer marketing and mobile growth," and is a fan of the move.

Olson sees OpenTable's efforts, which include the hiring of new marketing personnel and are expected to feature a pickup in mobile ad spend, leading to "an acceleration in OpenTable adoption during 2014-15." That, in turn, is expected to yield "an inflection point similar to what occurred for online travel during the early 2000s."

His PT is now at $80, or a full 35x a 2014 EPS estimate of $2.28 (consensus is at $2.21).

In a coverage launch for Internet stocks, Barclays has started Zillow (Z), YELP, and Shutterfly (SFLY) at Overweight, Zynga (ZNGA), OpenTable (OPEN), HomeAway (AWAY,), and InterActiveCorp (IACI) at Equal Weight, and Vistaprint (VPRT) at Underweight. Z+1%. YELP+4.1% to new post-IPO highs. Deutsche started coverage on Yelp at Buy after the close yesterday.

Canaccord has started Splunk (SPLK), Datawatch (DWCH), and ServiceNow (NOW) at Buy.

OpenTable (OPEN+3.9%) and Rovi (ROVI+1.4%) have spiked higher after Facebook (FB-0.5%) announces companies will be able to take OpenTable reservations and display Rovi TV listings data on their Facebook pages.

OpenTable has integration deals with 600+ sites/services. They currently account for 5%-10% of the company's monthly booked restaurant seats.

Facebook has made several moves in recent months (I, II) to improve the quality of the local content/services provided by its mobile site and apps. Yelp (YELP-1.2%) has sold off more than once thanks to those moves, but the company is still differentiated from Facebook (and other rivals) via the breadth of its local reviews database.

OpenTable's Facebook deal comes at a time when the company is seeing fresh competition from Yelp (remains a partner for now) and Groupon. It also comes shortly after OpenTable began testing a payments system for its restaurant bookings.

Rezbook was once feared as a serious rival to OpenTable, but the platform has made limited headway in the face of OpenTable's superior network effects. It currently has ~2K restaurant customers to OpenTable's 28K+.

As part of the deal, OpenTable is becoming the North American reservation platform for Urbanspoon's popular apps.

The deal comes as Yelp and Groupon both make efforts to encroach on OpenTable's turf.

OpenTable, Inc. provides solutions that form an online network connecting reservation-taking restaurants & people who dine at those restaurants. Its solutions are Electronic Reservation Book for restaurant customers and reservation website for diners.